CAR-NK cell therapy for glioblastoma: what to do next?

Front Oncol. 2023 Jun 19:13:1192128. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1192128. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

Glioblastoma is a malignant tumor with the highest morbidity and mortality in the central nervous system. Conventional surgical resection combined with radiotherapy or chemotherapy has a high recurrence rate and poor prognosis. The 5-year survival rate of patients is less than 10%. In tumor immunotherapy, CAR-T cell therapy represented by chimeric antigen receptor-modified T cells has achieved great success in hematological tumors. However, the application of CAR-T cells in solid tumors such as glioblastoma still faces many challenges. CAR-NK cells are another potential adoptive cell therapy strategy after CAR-T cells. Compared with CAR-T cell therapy, CAR-NK cells have similar anti-tumor effects. CAR-NK cells can also avoid some deficiencies in CAR-T cell therapy, a research hotspot in tumor immunity. This article summarizes the preclinical research status of CAR-NK cells in glioblastoma and the problems and challenges faced by CAR-NK in glioblastoma.

Keywords: CAR-NK cells; cell therapy; glioblastoma; immunotherapy; natural killer cells.

Publication types

  • Review

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from 1.3.5 project for disciplines of excellence, West China Hospital, Sichuan University (ZYGD20003).